1892.] 


249 


[Brinton. 


Further Notes on Fuegian Languages. 

By D. G. Brinton , M.D., LL.D. 

(Read before the American Philosophical Society , May 6 > 1892.) 

Since the publication of my study on the Patagonian and Fue*- 
gian dialects in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical 
Society (No. 137, 1892), several important vocabularies have come 
to my notice. 

REPRINTED JUNE 2 , 1892 > FROM PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC., VOL XXX. 


Brinton.] 


250 


[May 6, 


An Early Fuegian Vocabulary. 

One of these is the oldest known collected on the shores of 
Tierra del Fuego itself, that of Pigafetta having been derived from 
the Tsoneca, on the main land of Patagonia. That to which I 
refer was collected by the French navigator, Jouan de la Guilbau- 
diere, during a sojourn of eleven months in the Straits of Magellan 
during the year 1695. It includes about three hundred words and 
short phrases, and no part of it has been published. The MS. 
copy in my possession I owe to the courtesy of M. Gabriel Marcel, 
the Librarian of the Geographical Section of the National Library 
of France. As, however, he intends giving it publicity in the 
Cornpte-rendu of the Congress of Americanists, it will be sufficient 
to illustrate its character by a limited selection of words. These 
show that the basis of the tongue is Alikuluf, and it differs scarcely 
more from the Alikuluf of the present generation than do between 
themselves the vocabularies of that tongue by Fitzroy and Dr. 
Hyades in the present century. A few words belonging to the 
Tsoneca and the Yahgan may be detected, probably introduced by 
trading natives. In the vocabulary the bracketed words preceded 
by an A. are from the Alikuluf of Fitzroy. 


Fuegian (Alikuluf) Vocabulary of 1695. 


dog., chalqui (A. shilbke). 
ears, couercal. 
egg, lescheley (A. lith'le). 
eyes, titche (A. tet-elo). 
fire, ollay (A. tet-ele ). 
forehead, arcacol (A. lakoukal). 
head, yacabed chepy (A. yuccaba >. 
house, haathe (A. hut). 
man, accheleche (A. ackinish ). 
moon, yacabed charla (comp. Alik. 
yuccaba).. 

mouth, asflet (A. uffeare). 


nose, loutche. 
oar, oycque (A. icy’ic). 
sea, chapte (A. chahb'uciy 
skin, alac (A. uc’colayk). 
smoke, telgueche. 
sun, arlocq. 
teeth, chereedye. 
tongue, paileaf. 
water, arret. 
woman, acche letep. 
wrist, yacabed char cal. 


A few words show Tsoneca affinities, as: 


Fuegian, 

water, arret, 

teeth, chereedye, 


Tsoneca, 
karra. 
curr, oer. 


LC Control Number 



2008 


460525 














1892 .] 


251 


k 

* 


[Brinton. 


Language of the Onas (Aonas). 


Up to the present time no linguistic material from Eastern Tierra 
del Fuego has been available; and consequently the ethnic affini¬ 
ties of the tribes that live there have been but guessed at. 

Collectively these tribes are known to the Tehuel-het of Southern 
Patagonia as Yakana-cunny, “foot Indians,” as having no horses 
and but few boats, their journeys are made on foot; while the Yah- 
gans refer to their territory as Onegin, the “ land of men,” whence 
the appellation “Onas.” 

The Onas are taller and stronger than the aquatic Yahgans and 
Alikulufs, who inhabit the Fuegian archipelago, and are described 
as in face and figure closely resembling the typical North American 
Indian (Popper). For this reason, apparently, it has been assumed 
by recent writers that they are a branch of the tall and large- 
limbed Patagonians north of the Straits of Magellan. 

This is the opinion advanced by Drs. Hyades and Deniker in 
their Report in Vol. vii of the Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn 
(Paris, 1891). They acknowledge, however, that they had been 
unable to obtain any linguistic material on which to institute com¬ 
parisons. 

Such material has fortunately been secured lately by Dr. Poli- 
doro A. Segers, and he has printed a short vocabulary in the Bole- 
tin del Instiluto Geografico Argentino (Buenos Ayres, 1891), for 
which he claims exactness. It is printed apparently in the pho¬ 
netics of the Spanish alphabet, which, one would think, would be 
far from adequate to express the sounds of the language, if we may 
credit the statement of the English missionary, Mr. Brydges, that 
they are peculiarly harsh and guttural, “ resembling the sounds 
made by a person who is gargling with difficulty !” 

The location of the Onas is described in the Boletin above 
referred to, both by Dr. Julio Popper and Dr. Segers. The tribe 
is divided into a number of bands, in constant feud with each 
other, and all without fixed habitations. To the north, between 
the Bay of St. Sebastian and Cape Sunday, are the Parrikens, the 
Sheila and the Uenenke; to the south, from about Cape Penas to 
the Straits of Lemaire, roam the Kau-ketshe, the Koshpijom and 
the Loualks. These differ among themselves in dialect, but not to 
such an extent as to be mutually unintelligible. The precise band 


Brinton.] 


252 


[May 6, 


from which the following vocabulary was obtained by Dr. Segers is 
not clearly stated, but apparently from the Parrikens. 

A slight examination of this list of words is sufficient to disprove 
the statement made by the writers of the Mission Scientifique du 
Cap Horn that the language of the Onas is a dialect of the South¬ 
ern Patagonian or Tehuelhet. 

Its affinities are much closer with the Yahgan, although perhaps 
not near enough to allow us to speak of it as a dialect of that stock. 

In the eighty-four words in Segers’ vocabulary, I do not find the 
Yahgan correspondents for fourteen. Of the seventy remaining, 
twenty-three, or about one-third, are identical with the Yahgan or 
allied to it. Allowing for the very great difficulties in the way of 
a comparison of material such as I have at command, it is probable 
that with vocabularies carefully constructed on the same phonetic 
bases, and with correct identification of objects, a closer relation¬ 
ship between the two stocks would be demonstrated. 

In the vocabulary I have placed the Yahgan equivalent in brack¬ 
ets, preceded by the letter Y. The Yahgan vocabularies I have 
employed are those of Fitzroy, Bove and the more detailed one in 
the Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn . The bracketed words pre¬ 
ceded by Ts. are from the Tsoneca language. 

Vocabulary of the Onas Language, Tierra del Fuego. 


accouch, to, ts7io-ia. 
angry, odla. 
arrow, td-al. 

arrowhead, iash (Y. iakouch). 
ashes, ouen (Y. ouan). 
awaken, to, pash. 
back hair, iani. 
basket, touel (Y. taouala). 
beard, anu-etskel. 

belly, kashtom (Y. kashtamin, liver), 
black, mat. 

bow, a, uai-en (Y. uaiana). 

bowstring, ianet-sel (Y. chali-sel). 

brain, koiar. 

brother, ie-togte. 

call, to, cue-eke. 

crab, kamel. 

defecate, to, sha atJitere. 
dirty, keskd-a. 


drink, to, kaieto (Y. kayenliama, to 
drink from a cup), 
eat, to, tsham-ka (Y r . a-tama). 
enough, cano. 

eyebrows, oshel-etshel (see eye and 
hair ). 

fall, to, ua-aa. 

fat (grueso), ello (Y. oulow ). 
fire, so-ol (Y. iqouali, “lepiereea 
feu”), 
flame, ialoe. 
fog, dstau. 
for me, iuk-ka. 
for you, mak-ka. 
friend, male, iosh-lelk. 

female, iosh-ka. 
good, shaike. 
good-by ! eani-malk. 
good-niglit! ooken. 


1892.] 


253 


[Brinton. 


go out! shoim. 

sad, eshen. 

hair (in general), etshel (Y. at^ela, 

saliva, compe. 

all short hair). 

sea, paieke (Y. pay aka, or hayeca). 

heart, sa-sa (Y. sa-skin). 

shut, to, ojeme. 

heaven, mata. 

sick, poue. 

hot, pomushk. 

sister, ie-eke. 

I, me, iag (Ts. id). 

skull, aletaia. 

ice, tal. 

sleep, to, ashte (Y. dshd). 

knife, a, el (Y. ouild). 

slowly, la-id. 

labial commissure, isha-leke. 

small, tshool. 

large, eish (Ts. cliaish). 

smell, to, ke-slionuan. 

lie, a, leke. 

smoke, tti. 

mamma, iam. 

snow, leu. 

moon, anien. 

soon, to ok. 

morning, vanko. 

sun, anigke (Ts. gengenko). 

mother, tecam. 

thanks ! pe-ieukomiamski. 

mouth, conken. 

thick, kateishe. 

nail, of finger, kaiu (Y. galouf). 

thou, you, mag (Ts. ma). 

neck, kossel (Y. kaouheul, larynx). 

to-day, ma. 

open, to, aiepam. 

urinate, to, akketten (Y. ouakour). 

play, to, tal-la. 

vagina, pa-al. 

rain, shen-mush. 

water, oten. 

ready. Uhe-ieke. 

weak, tshe-uel. 

red, pouetel. 

winter, sheuke. 

run, to, ua-akka. 

yawn, to, tsha-isal. 


It wiil be noticed that the personal pronouns are derived from 
the Tsoneca, while the words for bow, bowstring and arrowhead 
are Yahgan. This indicates that this weapon originated with them 
from the latter element of their population. 

The result of this comparison is to place the Onas nearer to the 
Yahgans than to the natives of the mainland. They are evidently 
a mixed people, not an independent stock, physically allied to the 
Patagonians, linguistically belonging in the main to the Yahgan 
group. 

Yahgan Vocabularies. 

A few words may be added on the accessible material for the 
study of the Yahgan language. Its grammar has been made the 
theme of an able analysis by Mr. Lucien Adam, and a vocabulary 
has been studied from the translation of the New Testament by Mr. 
Julius Platzmann. Both these rest on the labors of the English 
missionary, the Rev. Mr. Brydges. The same is apparently the 


Brinton.] 


254 


[April 1,1892. 


case with the quite extensive and satisfactory list of words presented 
in the Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn. 

The authors of the latter point out the important fact that of the 
200 Yahgan (Tekenika) words collected by Fitzroy in 1830-32, 120 
are wholly errdneous, most of them belonging to the Alikuluf 
tongue. 

In the report of Commander Giacomo Bove ( Patagonia , Terra 
del Fuoco , Mari Australia Parte i, Genova, 1883), there is a Yah¬ 
gan vocabulary of 164 words. It also was obtained through the 
instrumentality of Mr. Brydges, and is satisfactorily accurate. 

The Hongote Vocabularies. 

In my previous communication on Fuegian dialects, I quoted two 
short vocabularies from a MS. in the British Museum said to be from 
the “Hongote” language, and which, from the paper forming a 
part of a record relating to Patagonia, I took to be dialects of 
that region. 

This is the first opportunity I have to correct this error. Dr. 
Franz Boas has pointed out to me that one vocabulary is clearly 
Salish, and must have been collected in Fuca strait on the north¬ 
west coast. He thinks it may be the Songish dialect, a name 
which remotely resembles “Hongote.” How it came to form a 
part of a mass of documents relating with this exception wholly to 
South America, I cannot explain. The other he considers Tlinkit. 
Under such circumstances and in view of the hundreds of languages 
on the continent, it is easy to see how such a mistake could occur. 
I am glad to be able to correct it promptly. 


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



